


the title of a christian song

by myglassesaredirty



Series: Jesse Adopts Michelle [2]
Category: Full House (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, IF SHE WERE A DOCTOR SHE COULDN'T JUST UP AND MOVE, Light Angst, Sequel, Vignette, WHAT IF SHE WAS MARRIED, also fuller house sucks not even lying, and i'm just here to say, i feel like there are relevant tags i could put but i'm not in the mood so suck it, listen i know what fuller house said about michelle's career, listen i think that she had a good reason not to be a featured character, she easily could have been something really great but they were just bitter, what the fuck man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-31 16:35:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21449320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myglassesaredirty/pseuds/myglassesaredirty
Summary: Life after the house fire that destroyed the Tanner residence and killed most of the Tanner family
Relationships: (background), Becky Donaldson Katsopolis/Jesse Katsopolis, Jesse Katsopolis & Michelle Tanner, Michelle Tanner/Teddy
Series: Jesse Adopts Michelle [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541188
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	the title of a christian song

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miracolina01](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miracolina01/gifts).

> This was originally the idea I had back when I first had the idea. Except I couldn't make the fire sequence work, so things changed a little bit. You know, life.

_ “EMT” _

While the firefighters put out the fire, the EMT cuts away his t-shirt and applies aloe vera to his back. Michelle needs care, too. The EMT is gentler with her and tells her everything that he’s doing in the simplest terms.

They tell him that he has a second-degree burn on his left shoulder. Something about how his shirt must have caught fire in there or that the heat might have been enough to burn his skin. He barely notices it.

~

_ “Hotel” _

Becky offers her place to him and Michelle, but he needs some time alone with the only family member he has left. He wants to remind himself that there is one person that he loves who has not died yet, who has not been hurt by his presence in her life.

He checks into the cheapest motel he can find. All that he has is forty dollars from Becky and the clothes on his and Michelle’s backs. When he lies down in bed, still holding Michelle close to his chest, she closes her eyes and snuggles into his chest.

He chokes on a rock in his throat. “I’ll protect you, kid,” he whispers past the tears. “Come hell or high water, I’m here for you, babe.”

~

_ “Stephy” _

That night, Michelle pokes his cheek. “Where’s Stephy?” she asks him.

He smiles tightly and doesn’t answer the question.

~

_ “Funeral” _

It’s a formality more than anything else. Joey’s parents come, of course, as do Danny’s and Jesse’s. Michelle’s grandparents offer to take care of her, but Jesse withers them with such a harsh glare at the suggestion that they shrink away. Becky squeezes his hand and stands at the pulpit. She’s known the Tanner family for all of four months, but she was the only one strong enough to give the eulogy.

Jesse can’t let go of Michelle.

~

_ “Wake Up, San Francisco” _

They replace Danny on “Wake Up, San Francisco.” Jesse stops watching it for three weeks. He feels bad about it and turns it back on, only to find that Becky left as well.

He turns on the morning cartoons for Michelle instead.

~

_ “Church” _

He goes to yell at God.

Michelle is at preschool and Jesse is jittery now that he can’t reassure himself 24/7 that she’ll be okay, so he slips inside the nearest church, and he has this great big plan to scream and yell and curse at God.

He sits heavily in one of the front pews, and the anger burns in his eyes and forces his hands to tremble. He clenches his jaw and tries to imagine the words that he wants to say to God, but nothing comes out. All that makes it past his lips is a haggard “why?”

Instead of the screaming and cursing he had imagined, he cries. He cries more than he had cried for Pam, but he thinks part of it is justified because he lost two of his three nieces, he lost his brother-in-law, and he lost his best friend. His only consolation is that all of them are back with Pam. She believed in this stuff, and so did they.

Jesse looks up and wipes the tears away from his eyes. “Please tell me they’re not in any pain up there, God,” he whispers. Checking his watch, he stands up, looks around one last time, and sighs. “I’ll be back. Maybe next time, I’ll have enough energy to yell at you.”

~

_ “Daddy” _

Talking about Danny and Joey and the girls can be too painful for Jesse sometimes. In fact, it’s too painful all of the time. The girls remind him of his big sister, Danny reminds him of his big sister, and Joey reminds him of the girls. Michelle is too young to remember them, to remember that Danny was her father and Joey was a close friend. She forgets that there used to be five people who loved her more than anything in the world; now she just has two.

He’s carrying Michelle to bed, and she sticks her bottom lip out in a pout and smacks his good shoulder. “But, Daddy, I don’t  _ want _ to go to bed!”

To his credit, Jesse only freezes internally for a half second. This is a situation where he needs Danny, where he needs to ask whether he should correct Michelle or go along with it. He doesn’t know what to do.

He’ll sleep on it and decide in the morning. Heck, he’ll call Becky and ask what he should do as soon as Michelle is asleep.

He shakes his head and tugs on Michelle’s pajamas. “Oh no, young lady, you are most definitely going to bed. You’re getting cranky.”

Later, when he calls Becky, she has no answer for him. After thirty minutes of talking through this, she finally sighs and says, “Jess, you’re going to be the only father figure she remembers. This is ultimately up to you.”

Jesse resolves to tell Michelle when she starts having a decent memory.

~

_ “Music” _

She wants to learn music so that she can be around her uncle/dad as much as possible. He takes on a job teaching kids how to play various instruments and even sets up an interview to be a music teacher at one of the local elementary schools.

He decides that the first thing he’ll teach her is the recorder.

She throws it across the room.

He tries to teach her piano.

Her fingers aren’t long enough to reach all the notes.

He refuses to teach her the drums until her fourth birthday.

She insists on the drums.

Finally, Jesse rummages in his new pile of instruments and pulls out the harmonica. It brings back painful memories, memories of him and Joey and their brand-new advertising business that ended when he passed away.

He plays it for Michelle.

She loves it.

He teaches her the harmonica.

~

_ “Reading” _

He wants her to be better than he was. He wants her to go to college, maybe even to graduate school, and he wants her to be the best Michelle she can be. It all starts young.

One day after preschool, Jesse pulls her into his lap and asks if she wants to learn to read. She tilts her head to look up at him, flashes him her biggest toothy grin, and says, “Duh!” He chuckles and kisses her forehead.

He starts with simple books first. Books with a few words at a time, and when Michelle gets that down, he moves to books with sentences.

By the time she starts kindergarten, she can read chapter books.

~

_ “Christmas” _

Some Christmases are easier than others, but this one is particularly difficult. Michelle is sick with fever and Jesse wants to call Joey for a little Christmas cheer, but there’s not much to go around.

He buys her presents with the money he can scrape together. She gives him a tie, bought by Becky.

After he puts her to bed, he stands next to his keyboard – Becky’s real gift to him – and stares at the keys. They remind him of a time long ago, when life was simpler and easier, but his soul cries for something more, something that words cannot express. His fingers settle over the keys and he strums out the mournful notes of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

Michelle wakes up and rubs her eyes and asks Jesse why he looks so sad.

She’s not old enough yet.

~

_ “Earthquake” _

Becky’s taking care of Michelle while Jesse runs errands. The earthquake comes and shudders the ground beneath him, and the only thought he has is how Michelle is doing. He’s scared to death for her. The phone lines are down. He’s trapped inside the store.

Michelle freaks out.

That night, and the night after that, and a whole week of nights after that, she climbs into his bed and curls up next to him. After a week, Becky and Jesse agree that maybe it’s time to take her to see a therapist.

Becky pays.

~

_ “Proposal” _

“Beck, I love you. You’re…you’re one of the most important people in my life.”

Becky smiles and squeezes Jesse’s hand. “I know I’m not the most important woman in your life, but I don’t care, as long as that spot is reserved for Michelle.”

He smiles and kisses the back of her hand. “Marry me?”

She kisses him softly. “Did you even have to ask?”

~

_ “In-laws” _

“Are you two ever going to have kids?”

Jesse stops bouncing Michelle on his knee and looks up sharply. “I already have a kid: Michelle. She’s great, and I don’t need another one in my life.”

Truthfully, he doesn’t think he could bear that kind of vulnerability. He gave his heart to all three girls, all three of his nieces, to Joey and Danny and Pam, and he lost all of them. The deeper he loves, the more he loses. It doesn’t stop him from loving Becky or Michelle, but he can’t risk loving and losing again. Not to the same degree.

Becky knows this and plays with her hands. “Well, Dad, you see, Jesse’s right: Michelle is pretty much our daughter at this point.”

Mr. Donaldson humphs. “Oh, please, Rebecca, you know what I mean. I meant, are you two ever going to have kids of your own?”

Jesse’s jaw tightens, and he stands up, holding Michelle. “Sir, Michelle is my own.”

Mr. Donaldson tilts his head. “She’s your niece, as far as I am aware. She’s not your daughter.”

If Jesse didn’t have Michelle in his arms, he would deck the man.

~

_ “Adoption” _

“Look, munchkin, you’re not– listen, your daddy died in a fire when you were just about a year old. So did your sisters and your uncle Joey. And before that, your mother was killed in a car accident. I’m the only family you’ve got left, pal.”

Michelle sniffles and wipes her eyes. “Do you want me?”

His face softens and he kisses the tip of her nose. “Of course I want you. I adopted you a few months after the fire. You’re my daughter as much as you are my niece.”

She nods slowly. “Can I still call you Daddy?”

Jesse chuckles. “I would love that.”

~

_ “Hurricane” _

They have to board up the windows. Becky was put on reporting duty, despite the hurricane, and Jesse didn’t have a functional car to evacuate with.

Once all the essentials are taken care of, he scoops Michelle up into his arms and carries her to the bathroom, pulling her head close to his chest.

She cries. He’s scared.

He rocks her back and forth. “I’ve got you, munchkin. I’m gonna make sure you’re safe. Nothing can hurt you now.”

~

_ “Training wheels” _

She learns to ride a bicycle after Aaron teases her for not knowing how. She falls into a bush when Jesse lets go of her.

She gets back on.

~

_ “Drums” _

He finally teaches her the drums. She’s a natural. Despite this, she still maintains her preference for the harmonica.

So he works out a few melodies where she can play the harmonica and he can play the drums and Becky can find somewhere else to hide from the noise.

~

_ “Period” _

Becky’s out of town on assignment when Michelle’s first period comes. Jesse sits at the kitchen table, designing lesson plans for the next day of class when Michelle shrieks from upstairs.

“DAD! Dad, come quick!”

He was out of his chair the moment he heard Michelle scream, and he’s about to barge through the bathroom door before he remembers not to go in with guns blazing. He stops, takes a breath, and knocks once. “Michelle? Sweetie, what’s the problem?”

“There’s  _ blood _ on my underwear! And my shorts!”

His first instinct is to call an ambulance. His second is that this is probably something of the more natural variety. “Does your stomach or anywhere else hurt?”

Her voice echoes through the door a moment later. “Not at all.”

He sighs deeply. “Michelle, I think you just started your first period. You’ve hit puberty.”

_ “WHAT?!” _ Her voice is shrill and loud, and Jesse thinks he hears his ears ringing.

“Look, Beck should be back in town by tomorrow, but for right now, just get a huge wad of toilet paper and wrap it around your underwear so that you don’t bleed through. Alright? I’ll get your red pajamas and wash your shorts now.”

~

_ “Biology” _

“I’m going to be a doctor.”

He looks up from his sudoku puzzle and lowers his pencil. “A doctor, eh? Where did this come from?”

Michelle shrugs, lets her backpack slide off her shoulder, and plops onto the couch next to him. “Dunno. Teddy and I are in a biology class this year, and I really like it a lot. I’m also really good at it.”

Jesse smiles and kisses the top of her head. “Well, whatever you do, you’re going to be amazing at it.”

She wrinkles her nose as she smiles. “Thanks, Dad.”

~

_ “Night school” _

He’s ashamed to admit that he never finished high school. Becky figured it out first, and now Michelle is lasering him with the best puppy dog eyes she can master, and dammit, she hasn’t lost her touch.

“Okay, fine,” he says, closing the kitchen drawer a little harder than normal, “I’ll go back to school and get my diploma.”

Michelle props her chin in her hand. “Dad, the teachers are gonna suck. This is high school we’re talking about. You can’t give up on the first day.”

He spreads his hands and looks around. “Who says I’ll give up the first day?”

She quirks her eyebrow – just like Danny always used to – and purses her lips, just like Pam always did. “I’ve known you my entire life, Dad. If you feel like someone’s not being respectful, you’re gonna nope out of it. Just listen to your own advice and suck it up, buttercup.”

~

_ “Graduation” _

She, Teddy, and Denise compete for the top spots among students. Michelle, though she has hated some teachers and loved others, has found a deep passion for science that cannot be quenched. She’s going to the University of California, Los Angeles to study biochemistry. Teddy’s studying history, and Denise is studying architecture.

If Jess had to bet, he would bet Michelle goes on to become a doctor, Teddy either will be a lawyer or a teacher, and Denise – obviously – will become an architect.

At any rate, Michelle and Denise edge out Teddy for the top slots in the class, and he’s content to sit back and cheer his two best friends on.

After she tosses her cap in the air, Jesse comes up and hugs her. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispers.

Michelle grins and hugs him even tighter. “Thanks, Dad. And I promise, I’ll write every day.”

~

_ “Graduation Part II” _

It took a lot of hard work, tears, stress, constant reminders to eat, and many extra credit opportunities, but Michelle gets through college, gets accepted into San Francisco’s medical school, and graduates with magna cum laude.

She’s the first person Jesse ever saw graduate from college, his sister included.

And he couldn’t be prouder.

~

_ “Studying: Student dying” _

“Munchkin, what are you still doing up?” He supposes, now that he thinks about it, that the question could be turned on him, but he woke up to use the bathroom and noticed the light still on in Michelle’s room.

She glares at him through bleary eyes. “I’m studying.”

“Looks more like you’re trying your damnedest not to fall asleep.” He smirks and leans against the doorway. “Listen, Michelle, just turn in for the night. If you don’t know it at this point, you probably don’t know it.”

She twists her lips, her silent admission of defeat, and gently shuts her textbooks. “Yeah, I know. I just want to be the best pediatrician I can be.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Pediatrician, huh? That’s new.”

Michelle shrugs. “Yeah, I like being around kids. The parents are a bitch to deal with, but I think I could get past that.”

Jesse chuckles and pulls the door shut. “Goodnight, sweetheart. Get some sleep.”

~

_ “Marriage” _

“I can’t believe my sweet baby daughter is getting married.”

Becky rolls her eyes and straightens Jesse’s bowtie. “Oh, please, Jess. You’ve known Teddy almost as long as you’ve known Michelle, and besides, you’ve always said that he was the only man worthy enough to marry Michelle.”

“I didn’t think he’d take me up on that offer!” He reaches to run his hand through his hair, but he stops just shy of touching his hair. He spent too long on his look for Michelle’s special day; besides, he’s out of mousse.

Michelle chuckles to herself. “Dad, are you really not a fan of Teddy?”

Jesse shakes his head. “No, Michelle, I love Teddy like he was my own son. I just love you more, and I don’t think anyone is good enough for you.” He kisses her cheek. “Promise to remember your old man even after you get married?”

“It’s not like there’s that much time for you to change your mind.” Before Jesse can turn this wedding right around, she laughs and places her hand on his arm. “But I promise.”

~

_ “Grandchild” _

“Beck, do you think I did the right thing?”

Becky stops flipping through her book. “What the heck do you mean, Jess?”

Jesse looks down at the little bundle in his arms. “I mean, all those years ago. Adopting Michelle after the fire, raising her as my own. Did I do the right thing?”

Becky’s face softens. “Of course you did the right thing, honey. Michelle needed someone. She needed you.” She gently brushes his hair away from his eyes. “And I think you needed Michelle.”

“I absolutely did need that munchkin. God, I love her so much.”

“And what about this little munchkin here?”

Daniel’s eyes open and he yawns. Jesse grins. “Danny here isn’t a munchkin, he’s a nugget. He’s fat and cute, that’s why. And yeah, I love him so much.”

~

_ “Gratitude” _

The rain falls down in the cemetery, and Michelle squeezes her son’s hand. “Thank you for all that you did for me, Dad. You were there for me. You saved me. You were my dad from the beginning, and you took me in as your own.”

She turns her face up to the sky.  _ God, _ she prays,  _ can you tell Dad – Uncle Jesse – hi for me? And my real dad and my real mom and my sisters? Thanks for sharing Dad with me. _

**Author's Note:**

> Like it, love it, hate it? Leave a comment below or go to my tumblr, @ my-glasses-are-dirty, and tell me what you think!


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